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Saturday, August 18, 2007

1. "You should have gone with us, Aiko. It was
great. It parodied Ora Pro Nobis, Bona, Bayan Ko. All the
Brocka classics. There was even a Bembol Roco cameo."

Aiko forked the last piece of tuna. "What is it
called?"

"Sa mga Buko ng Liwanag. Isn't that great?
And they'll never screen it at malls. We'll buy a VCD or
something." Marion tapped her lips. "May I have that?"

"And Carlitos, he was there? With you guys, I
mean."

Marion smiled. "Yes. Yes he was."

Aiko brought the fork to her mouth. "I'm sure it
was great." The tuna was hard to swallow. "Buy me a VCD. Or
something."

Marion kept on smiling. "Yeah. Yeah. Hey listen,
I'm just going to take a bath. I snuck in... I think three cans of beer. Maybe
we can--"

"Maybe later." Aiko got off her bed. "I'm
meeting Jessie Mae in a few minutes."

"In your pajamas?"

Aiko got her jacket from her closet. "And
jacket." She kissed Marion on the cheek. "Later."

"Your cellphone."

Aiko was halfway out the door. "I don't need
it." She didn't wait for Marion's response. She rushed through the
corridor and went straight to Jessie Mae's room, two floors up.

Sampaguita Dorm was all green and red. Aiko hated
Christmas. On her way up she beheaded two styrofoam elves. She carried the
heads with her. They were eyeless by the time she knocked on Jessie Mae's door.

"Sob story. Let's go." Hand in hand they
headed for the dormitory's exit. No words were necessary, the Sunken Garden was
their destination. Their official sob story site. "Christmas is bad enough
during December. But on August? Who do I kill Mae, who?"

"It's Buwan ng Wika, Ai. But then you're an
English major. Marion should have taught you something by now, though." Jessie
Mae pointed at the cloudless sky. "Hey, aren't you supposed to turn into a
wolf?"

The Sunken Garden's wet grass caressed Aiko's feet. "Later."
They sat at their favorite spot, the roots of the acasia right in front of the
College of Education. Around them, joggers, horny high school students, and
mango vendors peopled the academic oval. "After the story." She
handed Jessie Mae a pack of cigarettes.

Jessie Mae brought out her lighter. "Well, fire
away."

"She went out with him. Again!"

"Uhuh..."

"She said they were with a group, but it's so
obvious they were with each other."

"So what?" Aiko took the pillow off her face
and sat up. "So what? Oh, wait, I know. Carlitos always brushes his
teeth."

"As a matter of fact, he does. After every meal. It's
because of the braces."

Marion was standing a meter away from Aiko. From that
distance she could knock her off her feet with a well-thrown pillow. "I
don't care Marion. I really don't."

"Is this what it's about? Me watching a movie
with him? You said it was okay..."

"I lied. I... I... It's not about that at all. That's
not what I meant, at all."

Marion smiled. She turned the room's lights off. "Okay
then. I'm glad we settled that." She climbed onto the bed, embracing Aiko.
"I thought, you know, for a while there, I thought you were being all
possessive again, and not trusting me. You know I know he's a pervert. You
should know I'm capable of defending myself. He stays in his place. I just like
having someone to talk film with. Just keep on trusting me, all right?" The
embrace became tighter. "Weren't you supposed to turn into a wolf?"

3. Morning found her alone on the bed. Aiko searched
for her cellphone under the pillows. Three messages. One from Marion (meeting
groupmates), one from Jessie Mae (meeting groupmates) and one from her newest
stalker (Globe this time, the first four were all Smart). Aiko got up, tossed
her cellphone onto her bed, stretched a bit, fell to the floor and started with
her daily exercise. Twenty push ups, twenty sit ups, twenty jumping jacks and
five minutes jogging in place. It was an incorrect regimen, according to Jessie
Mae, but Aiko didn't care. She didn't do it for good health. She just wanted
her heart pumping hard as soon as she woke up.

It was a Wednesday, which meant no classes and a whole
day at the library. Aiko loved being an English major. She grabbed her
towel and went to the dorm's showers. An hour later she was searching the Arts
and Letters shelves for anything about Monique Wittig. The dust
continually assaulted her nose and her stomach grumbled. "Rapists,"
she said to herself, "absolutely no nourishment."

"Aiko? Aiko?"

Aiko turned to her left and came face to face with
Carlitos.

He had an iPod plugged to his right ear. "Aiko! It
is you! It is you!"

"No." Aiko turned to the books again. "No
it isn't."

"Hey, hey," his face was two inches away
from hers now, "listen to this, listen to this! It's a classic!" He
plugged an earphone into her ear.

Music invaded Aiko's brain: "So I have to say 'I
love you' in a s--"

She ripped the earphone off her ear and ripped the
iPod off Carlitos. She slammed it onto the floor.

"Hey!"

Aiko kept her eyes on the books. "You come near
me again," she said, "and I willrip your heart out."

Carlitos bent to pick the iPod up.

"Go away," Aiko said, "now."

Carlitos went away.

Aiko took her cellphone out and sent a message to
Jessie Mae. The reply came after two minutes. Aiko sent Jessie Mae a smiley
face and resumed her search. She scoured the library for two hours and found
two books about Wittig. She had both photocopied and walked to the College of
Science building to fetch Jessie Mae. Over lunch she told her about her
encounter with Carlitos.

"She can handle herself." Aiko forked the
broccoli and put it in her mouth. It was hard to swallow.

Jessie Mae burped, dried her lips with a napkin and
said, "Are you coming tonight?"

"It's been forty days?"

"Uhuh."

"How's Lynda holding up?"

"The Christmas spirit helps." Jessie Mae
dried her eyes with the napkin. "Jesus, but I miss Vicky."

"We all do." Aiko forked another broccoli. "We
all do."

4. Around twenty women, mostly Sampaguita dormers,
attended the party. All wore black, except Aiko (who wore white) and Jessie Mae
(who wore purple). Each brought a candle, a blanket, and junkfood. Jessie Mae
brought a stereo. The party was held at the Lagoon, at around six in the
evening. Aiko sat beside Lynda, the party's DJ. Marion was nowhere to be found.

"Me and Vicky," Lynda, caressing the stereo,
said, "we used to come here all the time."

Aiko nodded. "Us, too."

"Me and you? I never came here with you."

"Me and Vicky, I mean. Long ago. Before Vicky and
you." Aiko chewed her cigarette's butt, but didn't light it.

"Oh. I see." Lynda lowered the stereo's
volume. "I see. She always spoke... well of you."

Aiko lit her cigarette.

"Why don't you tell her?"

"Tell her what?"

"That you love her."

"I did. She loved you. What was I supposed to
do?"

Lynda turned the stereo off. "Marion loves
me?"

"What?" Aiko killed her cigarette with the
sole of her shoe. "Marion? Vicky!"

"Vicky? No, Marion. Why don't you tell Marion you
love her?"

"Why would I tell Marion I love her?"

"I never got to tell Vicky, you know. Most nights
I wonder, what if I did? Would she still be here with us?"

Aiko took the stereo and turned it on, maximum volume.
After a minute, she turned it off. She brought out another cigarette and lit
it. "You know why?"

"Why I never got to tell Vicky?"

"Why I don't tell Marion."

"Why?"

Aiko put a hand on Lynda's shoulder. "When she
told me she was leaving me for you, which, incidentally, she did here, right
here, just over that bench, I cursed her. I said, 'If you ever tell someone,
anyone, that you love her, you'll lose her.' And she said, 'Right back at you.'
We made up a few days later, but we never took our curses back. So there."

"You really said that?"

"Yes."

"And she really said that?"

"Yeah."

Lynda took Aiko's cigarette. "Aren't you supposed
to turn into a wolf?"

"That was last night."

Lynda nodded. "It was that, wasn't it?"

"The wolf?"

"It's not that she loved me. She just couldn't
take it that you loved the wolf more."

"No. No. Don't ever think that. I know, for a
fact, that she loved you."

Lynda took a puff. "She did, you know. She did
tell me she loved me."

"I know." Aiko nodded. "And she lost
you."

"Marion!"

Aiko's eyes followed Lynda's finger. And there was
Marion, also in white. And Carlitos, in blue. Marion stopped by Jessie Mae's
blanket, Carlitos hovering behind her. "Excuse me," Aiko said. She
stood up and walked away from the party. She headed for the Lagoon's less
bright areas, where men and women from outside the University fornicated. She
brought out another cigarette and sat on an acasia's wet roots. She heard
footsteps and voices coming near here. She lit the cigarette.

And there was Marion. And Carlitos. And the wolf took
over. Marion said, "You don't have to do this." Aiko growled. Carlitos
tried to run. Aiko lunged at him.

After a few minutes, Marion and Aiko, hand in hand,
returned to the party. Lynda was dancing naked. Jessie Mae was doing backflips.
The rest of the women were seated their blankets, waving their candles. Aiko
estimated five more minutes before campus security attacked them. Marion let go
of her hand. Aiko returned to the blanket were she and Lynda sat. She sat down
and took out another cigarette.

Aiko lit the cigarette. "I won't smoke it. I just
like it in my fingers. You get that don't you?"

"No." Marion nodded. "Not at all. I
don't get you at all."

Aiko took a puff. "Is this goodbye?"

"It's like that scene in ET, when the kid
keeps on saying 'Stay,' you know, three, five times. And the alien goes, 'Come'
and the kid shuts up. How could he expect ET to stay if he couldn't come?"
Marion undid her belt. "Yeah. Yeah, this is goodbye." She took off
her clothes and began dancing with Lynda.

Aiko just watched them, holding her cigarette. After
ten minutes and no sign of campus security, she stood up, took her clothes off
and joined in.